Father’s Day is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year on June 19, and it all began when a young woman wanted to honor her dad. In May of 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Wash., sat in church listening to a Mother’s Day sermon and decided she wanted to designate a day for her dad, William Jackson Smart. It was first celebrated on June 19, 1910, Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, a single parent who raised his six children alone after the death of their mother.[3] It was first celebrated to mourn the loss of her father one of 361 men killed in a mining accident, 250 of them fathers who left around 1000 fatherless children.
Father’s Day celebrates and honors the men who have embraced the essential role of fatherhood. On this day, we also thank fathers and father figures for the sacrifices they make, for embracing the responsibility of nurturing and raising children, and for devotion to their family. In addition to Father’s Day, International Men’s Day is celebrated in many countries on November 19 for men and boys who are not fathers.
In spite of widespread support, Father’s Day did not become a permanent national holiday for many years. The first bill was introduced in Congress in 1913, but in spite of encouragement by President Woodrow Wilson, it did not pass. In 1966, Lyndon Johnson issued a proclamation designating the third Sunday in June to honor fathers. Finally, in 1972, President Richard Nixon signed a law declaring that Father’s Day be celebrated annually on the third Sunday in June. It has been an official, permanent national holiday ever since.